Lost Hiker Norco
July 03, 2020
Ingalls Park, Norco
2020-034
Written by Cameron Dickinson.
Ingalls Park in Norco is a popular, heavily trafficked trail network that is nestled in semi urban environment surrounded by residential tracts of homes and a golf course. A male in his middle 70’s wanted to hike up the 1.6-mile trail to the well-known Pumpkin Rock, while his wife and daughter would spend some time shopping Home Depot.
When the father did not come back from his hike, they decide to call 911 after waiting and searching for him over a couple of hrs. I happen to be hiking at Skyline Trail in Corona when the team receive the call. Luckily, I was relatively close to Ingalls Park, and would arrive there in 30 minutes after our initial call. Team members Josh and Blake would also join up in the search.
While Blake was hiking and speaking with other hikers to see if they had seen or encountered our lost hiker, Josh and I would head over and hike up to Pumpkin Rock and search the surrounding trails. While out on our search, our team would receive another call of a missing hiker in the Idyllwild area mountains. Blake would break away to participate in that search, while Josh and I would continue with our search.
We were genuinely concerned that our lost hiker was out there with no water, cell phone, and the hotter temperatures. But not long after we initiated our hike, we would receive a call from our Deputy on scene that our hiker was found in a residential neighborhood, safe and sound. It turns out that our hiker simply missed the turn off in the trail on his way back down from Pumpkin Rock.
RMRU Members Involved: Cameron Dickinson, Blake Douglas, and Josh Gould.